1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to galvanic gas sensors and in particular, compensation networks for such sensors.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Galvanic gas sensors and similar devices are well known in the art. U.S. Pat. No. 3,149,921, to Warner, describes the basic technique of employing a fuel cell to measure partial pressures of a reactant gas, by arranging the various other cell conditions so that the cell electrical output is determined by the concentration of the reactant gas. This patent employs numerous techniques for producing electricity from cells by utilizing reactant gases as fuels and oxygens.
An improved gas sensor is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,616,411 issued to the present inventor, Rudek, into which an entering gas, metered by passage through a diffusion barrier, is ionized by contact with an absorbing catalyst in presence of an electrolyte. This ionization is representative of the partial pressure of the gas.
Since the prior art sensors are usually utilized in environments which produce many anomalies, the output signals appearing across the terminals of the gas sensors will not only represent the partial pressure of the gas being detected, but also will include a component which is environmentally induced. Therefore, a gas sensor which compensates for these environmentally induced anomalies would be of great advantage in the art.